Growing crocuses: pot care, planting and forcing

Prepared with UFL flower delivery. A potted crocus is a popular spring gift in Ukraine for Women’s Day on 8 March. It flowers for only 1–3 weeks, but you do not have to throw the corm away: with the right care it will bloom again in the garden or on a windowsill. Here is how to care for a flowering crocus, what to do afterwards and how to grow crocuses yourself.

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Crocus basics

The crocus is a small corm-forming plant of the iris family, with about 90 species. Most bloom in early spring right after the snow melts, but some flower in autumn. Colours include purple, lilac, white, yellow and striped.

Caring for a flowering crocus in a pot

• Keep it cool. Crocuses like +10…+15 °C. Keep the pot on a bright windowsill away from radiators by day and on a glazed balcony (+2…+5 °C) at night. It will then flower for 2–3 weeks; in a warm room the flowers drop within days.
• Light: bright, but no direct midday sun.
• Watering: moderate, when the top of the soil is dry. Water from the saucer, as water on the corm causes rot, and pour off the excess after 20 minutes.
• Fertiliser is not needed while it flowers.

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What to do after flowering

The same corm rarely reflowers in a pot the next year because it is exhausted, but you can restore it in the garden.

1. Remove the faded flowers but keep the leaves.
2. Keep watering and feed once with bulb fertiliser until the leaves turn yellow (4–6 weeks): this is when the corm rebuilds its strength.
3. When the leaves have dried completely, lift the corms, clean off the soil and dry them in the shade.
4. Store them in a paper bag or box in a cool, dry place until autumn.
5. Plant them outdoors in September–October. In a year or two they will recover and flower.

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Planting crocuses outdoors

• When: spring-flowering types in September–October, autumn-flowering ones in July–August.
• Where: sun or light shade and light, free-draining soil. They look best in drifts in a lawn, rock garden or under trees.
• Depth: 8–10 cm (three times the corm height), 5–7 cm apart.
• Propagation: after 3–4 years offsets form around the mother corm. Lift the clumps once the leaves die back, divide them and replant in autumn.
• Mice: plant in mesh bulb baskets.

Forcing crocuses indoors for 8 March

To make a potted crocus bloom on a set date, it needs an artificial winter.

1. Choose large, healthy corms of large-flowered varieties (5+ cm around).
2. In late September or early October plant them close together in a shallow pot of light soil, tips level with the surface.
3. Water and keep in a dark, cool place (+5…+9 °C) — a cellar, the vegetable drawer of a fridge or a frost-free unheated balcony — for 14–15 weeks. Keep the soil barely moist.
4. When shoots are 3–5 cm tall, about 3 weeks before the target date, move the pot into light at +15 °C.
5. Once buds appear, keep the crocus cool so it flowers longer.

Saffron: the world’s most expensive spice

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Saffron is the dried stigmas of just one species, the autumn-flowering saffron crocus. Each flower yields three thin red threads, so a kilogram of spice takes around 150,000 hand-picked flowers — hence the price. Saffron turns food golden and has a honeyed, slightly bitter aroma: a few threads are enough for pilaf, risotto or baking.

FAQ

Why did my potted crocus finish so fast?

Usually because it was too warm: above +22 °C the flowers open and drop within days. Keep the plant cool.

Can I plant a gifted crocus in the garden in spring?

Yes, once the ground has thawed. Plant it with its root ball, keep the leaves and look after it until they die back naturally.

Are crocuses poisonous?

Spring crocuses are considered low in toxicity, but the corms should not be eaten. The look-alike meadow saffron is the dangerous one.

Want spring colour without the wait? Order tulips with delivery in Kyiv or give a flowering plant from our houseplants range.

Read also

• Wildflowers of Ukraine: 47 species
• Origami flowers: paper tulip, poppy and iris
• Types of African violets

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Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.